Michael Mulcahy (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

That was an appalling level of debt and I am glad that since 1988, principally under Fianna Fáil led Governments, the percentage has been greatly reduced. I see a Member from the Labour Party sniggering. The Labour Party was in power during the period when that debt increased so much. Before I entered this House, most of my political experience was on Dublin City Council. Throughout that period of 18 or 19 years, I witnessed the Fine Gael Party being very responsible when it came to the city finances. However, unfortunately the same cannot be said of the Labour Party. On many occasions the city manager was faced with a financial difficulty and the choice was to cut back services or introduce service charges. The Labour Party refused to support either option.

See this speech in context